Birth dearth: Stats show West Michigan has fewer children than decade ago

Katy Batdorff | The Grand Rapids PressAn empty swing set at Martin Luther King Park in Grand Rapids, where the number of residents under 18 fell by nearly 7,000 in the past decade.

Call it the birth dearth.

In the past decade, Michigan's largest population drain occurred among children and teenagers under age 18, according to recently released 2010 Census figures.

Despite their overall growth, most West Michigan communities were not immune.

In Kent County, 4,125 fewer kids were counted – a 2.5 percent drop despite overall population numbers that grew by nearly 5 percent, or more than 28,000 residents, according to recently released 2010 census figures.

In Grand Rapids alone, the number of under-18 kids fell by nearly 7,000, or 13 percent. While some fast-growing suburbs showed growth in all categories, older suburbs like Grandville and Plainfield Township also showed double-digit declines in the under-18 set.

More about Michigan's 'Birth Dearth' Sunday

See Sunday's Mlive.com and The Grand Rapids Press for more on Michigan's falling birth rate and the impact it will have on our schools, colleges and job outlook.

In Ottawa County, the under-18 population grew by only 341 residents, about half a percentage point. That's in the face of an overall population growth of 28,487 residents, or nearly 11 percent,

Statewide, the numbers are even more stark. The number of children under 18 fell by 9.5 percent – nearly 250,000 kids.

The reasons for the decline are varied. Some point to the region's faltering economy, forcing families with kids to move to areas where jobs can be found.

Others point to a declining birth rate, especially among the “echo boomers,” the mini-flood of children born to baby boomers in the 1980s and 1990s.

“Echo-boomers” were counted in the under-17 category in 2000. In the 2010 census, many “echo boomers” were counted as adults but still had not produced offspring as part of a growing trend to delay their families.

One such couple are Cannon Township residents Aaron and Shantel VanderGalien, who put off having a family during their first nine years of marriage.

Aaron, 33, and Shantel, 29, said they wanted to be sure they had a stable home in which to welcome and raise their 6-month-old daughter, Darby.

Aaron, an entrepreneur with five start-up companies under his belt, said he was ready to start a family “when it wasn't like I was going to lose the company tomorrow.”

“There were times in the early years, where we were working 80 or 90 hours a week,” said Aaron, who holds the title of company president for Deksia.com, Pazzel.com and Pot-Boilers.com.

Shantel, an English teacher at Rogers High School in Wyoming, said they also wanted to be sure their marriage was on a sound footing before starting a family. “We both came from divorced families,” she said.

Now that their family is underway, the VanderGaliens say they're not sure about having more children to count in the 2020 census. “You have to be in a place where you can give that child the best,” Shantel says.

Lynne Heemstra, director of Our Community's Children, said she believes the state and region's faltering economy at the root of the decline.

“Much of it has to do with parents seeking jobs elsewhere,” said Heemstra, whose organization is cooperative venture between the city of Grand Rapids and Grand Rapids Public Schools.

“Obviously if one or two parents take a job elsewhere and they have three or four kids, the impact is a greater loss of the child population,” Heemstra said.

With a decline of more than 7,500 students in the past decade, the out-migration has hit the Grand Rapids Public Schools squarely. The system has closed several buildings in the past decade and has more closings in the pipeline.

Nonetheless, Heemstra believes the declining trend in the under-18 population will not continue. “The tides are bound to turn as the economy improves, as Grand Rapids is and always has been a great place to raise children.”

Gustavo Rotondaro, interim director of the Community Research Institute at Grand Valley State University, said he expects the area's rising Hispanic population and its tendency to have larger families also will play a role in the next decade.

“Their fertility rate – their natural growth rate – will present an opportunity,” Rotondaro said. “But are these communities ready to have a diverse population?”